Fred Rich born 31 January 1898

Fred (Freddie) Rich (January 31, 1898 – September 8, 1956) was a Polish-born American pianist, bandleader and composer who was active from the 1920s to the 1950s. A major talent during the big-band era, Fred Rich is one of those leaders whose name might well have disappeared entirely, but for the fact that several alumni from his orchestra went on to bigger and longer careers. 

The Astor Hotel

Born in Warsaw, Poland, Fredric Efrem Rich emigrated with his family to America early in the 20th century. The Riches settled in New York City, and Freddie, who showed great musical proficiency, took up the piano as a boy. By the time he was in his mid-teens, he'd found a very practical use for his talent, getting employment as a movie theater pianist; Rich's virtuosity and improvisation skills served him well, but he had ambitions beyond playing accompaniment to movies. He later studied at the Damrosch Conservatory of Music and, beginning in 1922, led his own orchestra at the Astor Hotel in New York.

One has to understand the social milieu in which Rich made his name to realize where that engagement, which lasted six years, put him. Hotel dance orchestras don't get much attention from music scholars today, but in their heyday, it was those ensembles and not the celebrated jazz bands of the '20s and early '30s that most Americans listened to, on the radio and on record. In 1922, when Rich started his gig at the Astor -- then one of the most prestigious hotels in New York, which meant the world as well in those days  he was in one of the most enviably visible positions a bandleader could occupy anywhere in America. At the time, radio was just coming out of early infancy as a commercial medium, and soon started growing in popularity at an enormous rate.

In the interim, Rich and his orchestra toured Europe in 1925 and 1926, and again in 1927. In1928 it had the singular distinction of being the first orchestra of its kind to appear in a Royal Command Performance, before King George V. Even then, American bands could be assured of a rousing reception and big audiences almost anywhere in Western Europe. Starting with his first record in 1925, as leader of the Astor Hotel Orchestra, he also recorded extensively during the '20s, leading studio ensembles whose ranks included more than their share of future jazz stars and legends, among them the Jimmy Dorsey and Tommy Dorsey, Joe Venuti (who, with Eddie Lang, cut an extraordinary violin-and-guitar-driven version of "I Got Rhythm" with Rich's orchestra), Bunny Berigan, Benny Goodman, and Tony Parenti.

From 1928 until 1938, Fred Rich was the music director for the CBS network, making him one of the most important music administrators in the world. Indeed, the position was even more influential than it seems, because during those years, radio, not records, were the major medium through which music was heard.

                             

Getting on radio usually didn't pay a band or its members very much, but the exposure was vital, and far more important than having records out in those years. Rich conducted a lot of music himself for the network, and also determined what music was put over the network by other artists, as well as which orchestras and which soloists would be used on which shows. In essence, he could decide which composers got their music heard widely on the CBS network, and which musicians benefited from the company's need for musical accompaniment. He had an enviable array of players to pick from. The Dorsey Brothers both turn up as soloists on his late-'20s and early-'30s sides, as do Venuti and Lang, and, most notable of all, Benny Goodman is on some of Rich's work as well, from the years when he was taking any work that came along.

In 1938, Fred Rich left CBS and took a job as music director for various radio stations instead, while continuing to lead a band of his own -- included in the ranks of the latter was drummer Bill Peck, who fronted several latter-day big bands as a vocalist in the late '40s and early '50s, in addition to taking a run at rock & roll success. In 1942, Fred Rich became an executive in the music department at United Artists Studios, where business was booming at the outset of the decade. He remained there for nearly a decade, usually credited under the name Fredric Efrem Rich when he composed scores himself. Had luck been with him, Rich almost certainly would've been considered for a broadcast position in music, similar to his rival and colleague Paul Whiteman at ABC.

His days of performing and leading bands ended in 1945, however, when an accidental fall left Rich partially paralyzed. He kept his job into the early '50s, before being forced to retire because of his injuries. Rich died at his home in Beverly Hills after a long illness on 8 September 1956, aged 58.  He was a top musician in a field that's not well-written about or understood today, and an influential bandleader and administrator in a time when a lot of great and groundbreaking talents might've gone hungry if it hadn't been for him and CBS. His tenure at United Artists was more uneven, but his dance sides, which were just beginning to come out on CD in the '90s, capture some of the vitality and originality of a period in which those attributes, are often overlooked.

(Edited mainly from AllMusic)

Here’s a musical short subject in which bandleader Freddie Rich conducts three musical numbers with his orchestra, with solos by Nan Wynn. In the midst of the radio broadcast on which the band is performing, a gangly guitarist named Joe Sodja interrupts and asks to perform.

Marty Balin born 30 January 1942

Marty Balin (January 30, 1942 – September 27, 2018), was an American singer, songwriter, and musician best known as the founder and one of the lead singers and songwriters of the Californian psychedelic rock group Jefferson Airplane and a member on several occasions of its sequel, Jefferson Starship. 

Martyn Jerel Buchwald was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Catherine and Joseph Buchwald. His paternal grandparents emigrated from Eastern Europe. His father was Jewish and his mother was Episcopalian. Buchwald attended Washington High School in San Francisco, California. Later while studying at the San Francisco School of Art and aspiring to be a master with brushes, he participated in a performance of 'West Side Story', which sparked a sudden passion for music. 

Anderson & Balin

In 1962, Buchwald changed his name to Marty Balin, and began recording with Challenge Records, releasing the singles "Nobody But You" and "I Specialize in Love". By 1964, Balin was leading a folk music quartet called The Town Criers.  After the invasion of the British groups, and inspired by the success of the folk-rock fusion of The Byrds and Simon & Garfunkel, he decided to form a group to explore in that direction. 

With a group of investors, he transforms an old pizzeria into a music club, The Matrix, and sets out in search of musicians for his project, Jefferson Airplane. The first line-up included, in addition to Balin (lead vocals), Skip Spence (drums), Signe Anderson (lead vocals), Jack Casady (bass), Jorma Kaukonen (guitar) and Paul Kantner (guitar and vocals). A year later, Spencer Dryden replaces Spence on drums and Grace Slick to Signe Anderson in one of the solo voices. 

What began as a folk-rock project became a standard-bearer of the incipient psychedelic scene in San Francisco, achieving with their album 'Surrealistic Pillow' (1967), a resounding success that produced them a gold record. Although Grace Slick took center stage on hits like 'Somebody to love' and 'White rabbit', Balin's tenor voice was a very distinctive aspect of the band's sound. Balin contributed compositions such as ‘Today’, 'Share a little joke' and ‘Volunteers’. In 1971 he left the group due to constant ego struggles with Kantner and Slick and formed the short-lived group Bodacious DF., with whom he records a self-titled album that is published two years later without repercussion. 

In 1974, Paul Kantner, who had formed Jefferson Starship, asked him for a song for the new album and together they composed ' Caroline', whose lead vocal was Balin and was included on the album 'Dragon Fly'. A year later he officially joins the group and composes, for many, their best song, 'Miracles', which reached the Top5 and was the band's greatest success. He was also the solo voice on songs like 'With your love' and 'Count on me', but in 1978 he left the group again, to concentrate on production work for the rock opera 'Rock Justice'. 

                             

He continued as a solo artist and in 1981 published his first album, 'Balin', which contained the hits 'Hearts' and 'Atlanta Lady'. The album that followed 'Lucky' (1983) did not have the same luck and Balin formed the KBC group with Kantner and Jack Casady, with whom he published 'KBC Band' (1985) with the songs ' America ' and ' It's not you, it's not me ' , which are moderate hits on US FM stations. In 1989 the three would participate in a Jefferson Airplane reunion that spawned a studio album and tour before breaking up again. 

In 1991, Balin published 'Better Generation' and two years later he reunited with Kantner in the latest reincarnation of Jefferson Starship, with whom he remained until 2003, although he continued to appear with them on special occasions. Balin, along with the other members of the 1966–1970 line-up of Jefferson Airplane, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. Released in 1999, Marty Balin's Greatest Hits assembled re-recordings of past favourites. 

In 2003, Balin issued the self-titled CD Marty Balin, beginning a successful run of independent albums issued on his Balince Music label that would continue through the 2000s. In 2011 'The Witcher' was published and his last published album was 'The Greatest Love' in 2016. As a member of Jefferson Airplane, he was honoured with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. 

While on tour in March 2016, Balin was taken to Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital in New York City after complaining of chest pains. After undergoing open-heart surgery, he was transferred to an intensive-care unit to spend time recovering. In a subsequent lawsuit, Balin alleged that neglect and inadequate care facilities on the hospital's part had resulted in a paralyzed vocal cord, loss of his left thumb and half of his tongue, bedsores, and kidney damage. He died on September 2018 in Tampa, Florida at the age of 76. 

(Edited from Efemerides Musicales & Wikipedia) 

Don Shirley born 29 January 1927

Don Shirley (January 29, 1927 – April 6, 2013) was an American classical and jazz pianist and composer. He recorded many albums for Cadence Records during the 1950s and 1960s, experimenting with jazz with a classical influence. He wrote organ symphonies, piano concerti, a cello concerto, three string quartets, a one-act opera, works for organ, piano and violin. 

Donald Walbridge Shirley was born in Pensacola, Florida.. He began playing the piano at age of 2 ½, being taught at first by his mother; he gave his first public performance at the age of 3. When he was 9 he was invited to study theory with Mittolovski at the Leningrad Conservatory of Music, where he spent a great part of his youth. Later he studied with the famous organist Conrad Bernier and studied advanced composition with Bernier, and with Dr. Thaddeus Jones at Catholic University of America in Washington D. C. 

He made his concert debut at the age of 18 with the Boston Pops on June 25, 1945, playing the Tchaikovsky B-flat minor concerto. His first major composition was performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra in l946. In l949 he was invited by the Haitian government to play at the Exposition International du Bi-Centenaire De Port-au-Prince and gave a repeat performance at the request of President Estime. 

At this period he gave up his career as a concert pianist and turned to the academic field where he achieved outstanding successes. He obtained Doctorates in Music, Psychology (Univ. of Chicago, Phi Beta Kappa), and Liturgical Arts. He speaks eight languages fluently, and is considered an expert painter as well. 

While teaching Psychology at the University of Chicago in the early 50's he returned to a musical career, virtually by accident, as a result of being given a grant to study the possible relationship between music and the juvenile crime wave which had broken out in the early l950's. Working in a small club, he used his experience to perform experiments in sound, and showed that certain tonal combinations affected the reactions of the audience. His audience did not know of his experiment, or of the students planted among them to assess their reactions, but he became a sensation as a pianist! 

He started making appearances in New York, especially at the Basin Street, where he played with Duke Ellington. They began a warm friendship, resulting in Don's performance of the premiere of Duke's Piano Concerto at Carnegie Hall with the NBC Symphony of the Air in l955. An appearance on the Arthur Godfrey Show launched his career nationwide. 

                             

At Arthur Fiedler's invitation he had appeared with the Boston Pops in Chicago in June 1954. He has appeared as soloist with the Detroit Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the NBC Symphony, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington to name only a few. He also played as soloist with the orchestra at Milan's La Scala opera house in a program dedicated to Gershwin's music. Only two other pianists have performed there as soloists - Rubinstein and Richter. Including his appearances with his own trio, he averaged some 95 concerts a year. 

Mr. Shirley made a number of recordings in the 1950s and early ’60s for the Cadence label, including “Piano Perspectives,” “Don Shirley Plays Love Songs,” “Don Shirley Plays Gershwin” and “Don Shirley Plays Shirley.” Later in the 1960s, he recorded with Columbia.It was the founder of Cadence Records, Archie Bleyer, who insisted that Mr. Shirley be called Don, an informality that stuck with him throughout his career as a nettlesome reminder that he was unable to be known as the concert player he had always wished to be. 

He has written symphonies performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, and has composed 3 symphonies, two piano concerti, a cello concerto, three string quartets, a one-act opera, works for organ, piano and violin, a symphonic tone poem based on "Finnegan's Wake" and a set of "Variations" on the legend of Orpheus in the Underworld. 

Don Shirley's music is beyond conventional categories. He is a virtuoso, playing everything from show tunes, to ballads, to his personal arrangements of Negro spirituals, to jazz, and always with the overtone of a classically-trained musician who has utmost respect for the music he is playing. He has said, "There are three ways to enjoy or to interpret music, from a listening point of view: emotionally, intellectually, and a combination of the two." Igor Stravinsky has said of him, "His virtuosity is worthy of Gods.” 

Throughout the '50s and '60s, he released numerous albums on the Cadence label. In 1999, Collectables began reissuing several of those albums as two-for-one sets. Shirley died of heart disease on April 6, 2013.

(Edited from Nathan Kramer.com, NY Times & Wikipedia) 

Lucio Alves born 28 January 1927

Lúcio Alves  (January 28, 1927 -  August 3, 1993 ), was a Brazilian singer , guitarist and composer . He was a musician much appreciated by the heads of the bossa nova movement including Tom Jobim and João Gilberto who praised his vocal qualities and harmonic arrangements. 

Lúcio Ciriblli Alves was a great interpreter of Brazilian music. Tom Jobim said he is "a formidable singer, he deserved the highest popular acclamation, but paid the price of being an artist ahead of his time." João Gilberto was a declared fan of his singing interpretation and his vocal and harmonic arrangements and Alves made some arrangements for Gilberto's Garotos da Lua and Gilberto lived with him at Raul Pompéia street in Rio. When Chega de Saudade was released, the first person to whom Gilberto showed the album was Alves.

Alves always had music as part of his family life: his father was the conductor of his city's band and a tuba player, his mother and aunt played the piano, his sister violin, and his brother’s guitar and flute. As early as six years old, Alves began to take acoustic guitar classes. At nine, already living with his family in Rio, he appeared at Barbosa Júnior's Bombonzinho radio show singing "Juramento Falso", a song turned extremely popular by Orlando Silva. 

Whilst at the radio show he became acquainted with Carmen Miranda, Garoto, Os Quatro Diabos, O Bando da Lua, Carlos Galhardo, Chico Alves, and Ciro Monteiro, among others. He also appeared, in 1937, on Rádio Nacional's soap opera Aladim e a Lâmpada Maravilhosa, playing Aladin, and on the show Ora Bolas! In fact, as a prodigy child, he appeared on all children's shows. 

In 1941, having broken a leg in a soccer play ("pelada"), he had to rest at home. As the only activity he could engage in was to sing, he formed the group Namorados da Lua, in which he was the crooner, violonista, and arranger. The group scored first place at Ary Barroso's show on January 12, 1941. In that year, Alves also won the Carnaval contest at the Teatro República, Rio.

The Namorados da Lua recorded their first 78 rpm album on October 15, 1942, with "Vestidinho de Iaiá" and "Té Logo, Sinhá" (both by Assis Valente), through Victor. The group would last for six years and several different formations, working at distinguished spots such as Cassino Atlântico and Cassino Copacabana, besides Rádio Nacional before disbanding in January 1948, when Alves left for a solo career. 

                               

In 1948, after a few recordings including Solidão , Aquelas palavras and Seja feliz ... adeus , he toured Cuba, Mexico and the United States together with the new group Anjos do Inferno. He was invited by Carmen Miranda to work with her, but he preferred to return to his homeland also refusing to collaborate with the Tex Beneke orchestra. 

In the early 1950s, Alves began to record records in succession. In 1954 he joined the singer Dick Farney making a successful duo. Then he began composing bossa nova, alternating with recordings and the creation of new songs, performances in the theatre, clubs, on radio and television shows; and in turn he made the compositions of other artists his own, recording them in the studio; among these recordings an album that included hits like Rio, Ah! Se eu pudesse and O barquinho , all three composed by Roberto Menescal and Ronaldo Bôscoli . 

In 1960 he released the album "Lúcio Alves Interpreta Dolores Duran", in honour of the singer and songwriter who died the previous year. In the 1960s, he recorded several bossa nova albums, such as "A Bossa É Nossa" and "Balançamba".  From this bossa nova phase, his interpretations stand out for "Dindi", "O Samba da Minha Terra" , "Ah, Se Eu Pudesse" and "O Barquinho".

During most of the 1970s, he worked as a music producer on television stations, recording sporadically. His last recording was an album recorded live at the bar-restaurant Inverno & Verão - São Paulo - August 1986.  

Little remembered and with financial problems he died from a heart attack in Rio de Janeiro, August 3, 1993 at the age of 66 years old.  (Edited from Wikipedia & AllMusic)

Jerome Kern born 27 January 1885

Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works. 

Jerome Kern was born in New York City. He studied piano with his mother and in high school was often asked to play piano and organ and compose music for school theatrical productions. In 1902, at the age of 17, he tried his hand at a business career working for his father, who owned a merchandizing house. But the young Kern’s enthusiasm for music led to his ordering 200 pianos from an Italian dealer instead of two — the number he was supposed to purchase. This action almost cost his father his business, and to Kern’s relief, it was agreed that he should pursue a career in music. 

Kern enrolled in the New York College of Music in 1902 and in 1903 went abroad to study music in Germany. He took up permanent residence in London, where he began writing songs for British musical hall productions. A year later, he returned to New York, taking jobs with music publishers — first the Lyceum Publishing Company and then Shapiro-Remick. At this time, British productions dominated Broadway. Kern was hired in 1904 to adapt one of these shows, “Mr. Wix of Wickham,” for the Broadway stage by “Americanizing” some of the numbers and by writing some additional songs of his own. 

A year later, Kern took a job at another music publisher, T. B. Harms & Co. (which eventually became the publisher of his own works) and continued writing musical interpolations for British shows. Ewen noted that: “Almost a hundred of his songs were heard this way, in approximately thirty musicals. This apprenticeship prepared him for giant tasks and achievements that lay before him.” 

The 1910s were a productive and noteworthy period for Kern. He married an English woman, Eva Leale, in 1910 and in 1914 had his first hit, “The Girl from Utah” which was another adaptation of a British show. In 1915 Kern began writing musicals for the Princess Theatre in New York. These productions, “Nobody Home,” “Very Good Eddie,” “Oh Boy!,” and “Oh Lady! Lady!!,” were distinguished by a new approach to musical theater, developed by Kern in collaboration with librettist Guy Bolton, and, beginning in 1917, the talents of lyricist P. G. Wodehouse. 

The musical revue format, with unrelated numbers strung together, was replaced by a more coherent story, more sophisticated songs, and characters that were more believable and realistic. The transformation of the Broadway musical did not happen overnight, however, and Kern also wrote the music for more conventional shows, including “Leave It to Jane,” “Sally,” which included the popular “Look for the Silver Lining,” and “Sunny.” 

                              

Kern wrote his most important work, “Show Boat,” in 1927 with lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II. The production, which included the songs “Ol’ Man River,” “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man,” and “Make Believe,” is notable for the richness of its music and its influence on other Broadway composers, who saw it as a model of writing for the musical stage. 

Kern with Oscar Hammerstein II

Today some believe it reflects racist attitudes; protesters tried to ban a 1993 revival in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, but the production went on to great success and re-opened on Broadway in 1994. “Show Boat” was made into a film musical three times — in 1929, 1936, and 1951. In 1954 it became part of the New York City Opera’s standard repertory — the first musical to be adopted by an opera company. 

Kern with George Gershwin

The 1930s saw a string of Kern musicals: “The Cat and the Fiddle”; “Music in the Air”; “Roberta,” which was made into a film starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in 1935 and which included the song “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”; the Astaire/Rogers film musical Swing Time, featuring “A Fine Romance” and the Oscar-winning “The Way You Look Tonight”; and Very Warm For May, which was a flop but from which the song “All the Things You Are” perhaps Kern’s best song, if not the best popular song by any composer  survives. 

In the 1940s Kern moved to Hollywood and devoted the rest of his career to writing music for films. He contributed the songs “The Last Time I Saw Paris” to Lady Be Good, “Dearly Beloved” to You Were Never Lovelier, and “Long Ago and Far Away” to Cover Girl. His last score was for the film Centennial Summer which was released in 1946. 

On November 5, 1945, at 60 years of age, he suffered a stroke while walking at the corner of Park Avenue and 57th Street. Identifiable only by his ASCAP card, Kern was initially taken to the indigent ward at City Hospital, later being transferred to Doctors Hospital in Manhattan. Hammerstein was at his side when Kern's breathing stopped. Hammerstein hummed or sang the song "I've Told Ev'ry Little Star" from Music in the Air (a personal favourite of the composer's) into Kern's ear. Receiving no response, Hammerstein realized Kern had died.

(Edited from Pbs.org Broadway & Wikipedia)

Jean Knight born 26 January 1943

Jean Knight (born January 26, 1943) is an African-American soul/R&B/funk singer, best known for her 1971 Stax Records hit single, "Mr. Big Stuff". 

Born Jean Caliste in New Orleans, Louisiana, after graduating from high school she began her singing career in her cousin’s Crescent City bar “Laura’s Place”. She recorded a demo of a cover version of Jackie Wilson's song "Stop Doggin' Me Around."  Her demo attracted record producer Huey Meaux, who signed her to a recording contract at the Jet Star/Tribe record labels. 

Shortly thereafter, Caliste adopted the professional name of "Jean Knight," because she felt that her surname was too hard to pronounce. She recorded four singles, making a name for herself locally, but was not able to attract any national attention. By the late 1960s, it was obvious that her career was not living up to her high expectations, so she went to work as a baker in the cafeteria of Loyola University in New Orleans. 

In early 1970, she was discovered by songwriter Ralph Williams, who wanted her to record some songs. With Williams' connections, she came in contact with record producer Wardell Quezergue. In May of that year, she went to Malaco Studios in Jackson, Mississippi, for a recording session during which she recorded "Mr. Big Stuff." After the session was finished, the song was shopped to producers at several national labels, all of whom rejected it. 

When Stax released the song  it was a smash hit, climbing to number 1 on the R&B charts, number 2 on the pop charts, and garnering Knight a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female. But just as she rose to great heights almost overnight at Stax, her subsequent recordings on the label never achieved great success and she left the company after her brief stint. 

                             

When King Floyd's hit "Groove Me" (also recorded at Malaco Studios) became a #1 R&B hit in early 1971, a producer at Stax Records remembered Knight's recording of "Mr. Big Stuff," and released it. The song proved to be an instant smash in 1971, reaching #2 on the pop chart and becoming a #1 R&B hit. It went double-platinum and received a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female; it lost to Aretha Franklin's version of "Bridge Over Troubled Water." The next year, Knight was named the 'Most Promising Female Vocalist'. 

An album of the same name proved to be fairly successful. A couple more minor hits followed, but disagreements with her producer and her label terminated Knight's involvement with Stax. She then recorded songs for various small labels, but was not able to gain any more recognition. She ended up performing and touring the local oldie circuit. Things changed in 1981, when she met local producer Isaac Bolden who signed her to his label Soulin'. She then recorded a single (under the name Jean Knight & Premium) entitled "You Got The Papers But I Got The Man" (an answer to Betty Wright's hit "I've Got The Papers On The Man").The song was leased to Atlantic for national release; and although the record failed to crack the pop market, it did become a minor R&B/Soul hit.

Soon, Knight found herself touring consistently. In 1985, she gained more recognition when she covered Rockin' Sidney's zydeco novelty hit, "My Toot Toot." Her version proved to be most successful, reaching #50 on the pop chart. Knight was then given a chance to perform it on the TV variety show Solid Gold. 

In the 1990’s, a funny thing happened. “Mr. Big Stuff” became a big hit for the second time! The song became a staple of over 40 compilation albums, numerous TV commercials and movie soundtracks,(recently Two Can Play That Game). Over one million additional copies of “Mr. Big Stuff” had been sold. Riding a wave of new popularity, Ms. Knight recorded “Shaki de Boo Tee” in 1997 for Atlanta’s Ichiban Records. While the album was crafted as a vehicle for the song “Bill”, the highlight for Jean was the five songs produced by her son, Emile Commedore. Two years later, Jean and Emile produced an album titled Queen, which was released by Fomaldehyde Records. Although “Queen” contained a number of solid tunes, the album was poorly marketed and distributed. 

In 2003, Jean Knight was honoured with induction into the Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis, Tennessee. She gave a nationally televised performance for the Stax for the concert, "Soul Comes Home."  In 2005, she lost almost her entire New Orleans home and its contents during Hurricane Katrina and lived temporarily in a FEMA trailer in Florida. After returning to her renovated home she started touring again, performing in New Orleans, New York City, and at festivals throughout the United States. She was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in October2007  According to her last webpage entry from 2007 she now controls the creative, recording, and marketing phases of her music through her own label, Comstar.

Here’s a photo of Jean at the 2016 New Orleans Divas at Jazz Fest.  (Edited mainly from Wikipedia)